Friday 13th June

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside….the only problem being I wasn’t chosen to go with Year 5 today as they set off early on their Geography trip to Clacton.  Bucket and Spades were replaced by clipboard and pencil as the children will be working on their coastal studies.  More next week upon their return.

Elsewhere this week there have been the beginnings of two major things: the World Cup in Brazil; and the introduction of a new behaviour management system in school.  Perhaps you might have heard children talking about C1’s and C3’s.  In essence nothing is really changing, our expectations are still the same and in both the previous Ofsted reports the children’s behaviour has been positively commented on – so why change?  As my Grandma always says ‘Your good can always be better, and your better can be best’ so as part of our policy review I involved the School Council to look at a system that is clearer and more consistent for both children and staff as well as helping to strengthen the pupil/teacher relationship.  The result of this is the phasing out of the 6 Stage Behaviour Plan and the introduction of the Consequences Ladder. This was launched in assembly on Wednesday and we will be trialling the system for the remainder of this term, ironing out any kinks ready for September.

This week’s sports round-up starts last weekend at the Herts Schools Athletics Track and Field Championships where Katie L from Year 7 came in 3rd in both the 200m and the 800m, an amazing achievement.  Rounders victories over Edwinstree were achieved by the Year 5 and 6 girls teams respectively.

Curriculum wise my focus has been music this week and Miss Mason has been hard at work, not only in lesson time but in supporting the children preparing for the House Music Competition next week.  Year 5 have been singing and developing their vocal skills by looking at songs from around the world.  Year 6 have been working on the recorder – composing their own group pieces and writing them down using correct notation.  Year 7 are working in groups developing lyrics for their own songs.  Year 8 have been developing their keyboard skills, using popular riffs and chords, extending their use of right and left hand.

Another new regular feature for the Blog will be a Science Club report, this week’s is written by Cameron A and Joshua G in Year 6, ‘Firstly Mrs Bingham showed us some brilliant cell models that previous Year 6’s had made.  Then we talked about the Big Bang Eastern Science Fair Trip  to Duxford and finally we looked at pictures from last years trip.’

Gardening club have been harvesting strawberries and radishes this week – they were very tasty!!

Today’s assembly by Mr Palmen was all about the World Cup, how it actually affects life in Brazil and why some people have been protesting (and not just over the award of that penalty last night!) against it.  Even having visited shanty towns myself in various countries it is difficult to convey to our children just what life there is like and how lucky they are (even as I type this I can hear my own parents’ voices repeating that very phrase to me).  Most of the children’s eyes lit up at the thought of only having to go to school for four years but the harsh reality of life beyond those years is something they can’t quite comprehend and why people all over the world campaign to get better education for their children.  To quote a former pupil of mine in a piece of homework he did about what was the point of school,  ‘At first I thought this would be easy – there is no point. However, when I looked into it, I found that if you didn’t have school it would ruin your life.  It might seem like it is ruining your life now but it is not all for the worse…school is to help you make the most of your life!’